degoose wrote:Hey guys i've got an old friend who is scottish and now lives in Canada,he started talking politics and it was very interesting. His thoughts are that the SNP are really popular all over the UK and everyone in England wanted to vote for them but couldn't so that's why they aren't running the country,people in England want the Scottish border to also be moved so far south it is below Manchester so Manchester would be part of Scotland officially and Scotland can go independent any time they like now they just haven't.

Thoughts?

My thoughts about the SNP follow on from a comment I saw posted in another place. The poster suggested that whenever we hear SNP members talking about nationalism for Scotland, we substitute 'England' and 'English' for 'Scotland' and 'Scottish' and ask ourselves whether such nationalist talk would be acceptable to the media in the way the SNP's seems to be?

And if not, why not? Could double standards possibly be at work? Perish the thought!

That argument is an old white supremacy argument where they say "Why can black people talk about how they are proud to be black, but we can't?". (Just a little history, as it doesn't have topical significance.)

The same answer applies: Because English people are not a minority inside the UK. They do not need greater representation, nor would breaking up a union which serves their majority be in their favour.

Dan. wrote:And my mindset is far from lazy - in fact, as I recall, I gave plenty of valid reasons for considering the political party that is UKIP to be racist in another thread on this very forum, and three times you simply dismissed it as "my opinion" without a single valid counterpoint. Which is far closer to laziness than any posting behaviour I have exhibited. Just because you're comfortable with your own wilful delusions doesn't mean they don't deserve to be challenged. UKIP are a racist party, trading off the incorrect notions that immigration is bad and our continued membership of EU is bad; notions gladly perpetuated by a cynical gutter press keen to sell papers.

This is why Labour are facing five years in the political wilderness, whilst simultaneously imploding. Until you can get over your infantile accusations of 'waaycism!' and even begin to consider there might actually be problem with open-door immigration I'm afraid I reserve the right to take your valuable insights with more than a little pinch of salt.

Immigrants are a net gain for the economy, particularly given the declining birth rate, Cal. Your anti-immigration position is economically untenable in the long run, even if it is a popular one today.